World View & Market Commentary. Forest first; Trees second. Focused on Real & Knowable facts that filter through the "experts" fluff and media hyperbole. Where we've been, what the future may hold and developing a better way forward.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Another pretty sobering report on the state of small businesses. Take a look through the pages and I think you will find a big disconnect between what you see here and what is being trumpeted elsewhere. There is also a large disconnect from expectations and what actually transpires. I think that as long as our economy is at the point of debt saturation that disappointment will be the name of the game until the system is cleansed:

Three charts in this report stood out to me… This one shows a dramatic plunge in prices and that wages are being pressured:

This next chart shows the dramatic difference in planned versus actual prices. That’s tough if you own and run a small business:

Next is a chart showing aggregate small business earnings, now down well over 40%. I took the liberty of drawing in a red zero line on this chart:

Plenty of other good charts and tables are clearly presented inside the report, a good study.